Cannot reply or forward HTML e-mails with embedded graphics

[BrianF]

I am using Outlook 2002 SP3 under Win XP Pro with a 2.8GHz P4 and 512GB RAM.
One of my contacts sends me fancy e-mails with embedded wallpaper and
graphics for comment. When I click on either Reply or Forward, the hourglass
appears and remains for 20 minutes before it is possible to even start to
type a reply. If I use Task Manager to stop the process, it shuts down
Outlook but Outlook will not then restart for perhaps 15 minutes.
Can anyone offer any suggestions?

brianmf

 

[BrianF]

I am using Outlook 2002 SP3 under Win XP Pro with a 2.8GHz P4 and 512GB
RAM. One of my contacts sends me fancy e-mails with embedded wallpaper and
graphics for comment. When I click on either Reply or Forward, the
hourglass appears and remains for 20 minutes before it is possible to even
start to type a reply. If I use Task Manager to stop the process, it shuts
down Outlook but Outlook will not then restart for perhaps 15 minutes.
Can anyone offer any suggestions?

brianf

I forgot to mention that I have tried disabling my AV (Avast), have run
Detect and Repair, run all my registry cleaners and generally tried all I
can think of.

brianf

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I forgot to mention that I have tried disabling my AV (Avast), have run
Detect and Repair, run all my registry cleaners and generally tried all I
can think of.

But did you actually uninstall Avast completely and reinstall it without the
mail scanner?

 

[BrianF]

But did you actually uninstall Avast completely and reinstall it without
the mail scanner?

No, I did not. Are you speaking from experience or is that just a
proposition?

brianf

 

[BrianF]

But did you actually uninstall Avast completely and reinstall it without
the mail scanner?

I have now uninstalled Avast completely and it makes no difference.

brianf

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

No, I did not. Are you speaking from experience or is that just a
proposition?

Experience. Many AV programs' mail scanners still interfere in the flow of
data between Outlook and the server when integrated, despite being disabled.
The only way to make sure is to remove the integration completely.

Since this didn't pan out, try starting Outlook in safe more and see if the
symptoms change.

 

[BrianF]

Experience. Many AV programs' mail scanners still interfere in the flow
of data between Outlook and the server when integrated, despite being
disabled. The only way to make sure is to remove the integration
completely.

Since this didn't pan out, try starting Outlook in safe more and see if
the symptoms change.
--

They do. There is no difficulty in replying to those graphic art e-mails in
Outlook safe mode.

brianf

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

They do. There is no difficulty in replying to those graphic art e-mails
in Outlook safe mode.

Then you have an add-in that's interfering. DIsable them all and add them
back in one at a time until you find the culprit.

 

[BrianF]

I have now uninstalled Avast completely and it makes no difference.

brianf

I think I have discovered the answer, by accident. The problem seems to be
related to the fact that I have always had the box ticked to use MS-Word as
the e-mail editor. Unticking the box appears to have removed the problem.
Does that make sense?

brianf

 

[Brian Tillman [MVP - Outlook]]

I think I have discovered the answer, by accident. The problem seems to be
related to the fact that I have always had the box ticked to use MS-Word
as the e-mail editor. Unticking the box appears to have removed the
problem. Does that make sense?

Some Word add-ins can interfere as well, if you use Word as the mail editor.

 

[BrianF]

Some Word add-ins can interfere as well, if you use Word as the mail
editor.
--

Just to conclude, it is indeed Word that is the problem here. If I try to
copy/paste the e-mail content into Word, I get the same effect - the
hourglass appears and it takes ages for the content to load.
There are no evident add-ins in Word so I guess this is just an
incompatibility between the DTP program used to compile the e-mail and Word.

brianf